“I don’t know whether he’s immensely quick-witted or superbly stupid.”

Chen scoffed, leaning back to lay down on the couch. He spread his legs out upon doing so, landing multiple blows on Xiumin’s forearm with his feet in an attempt to make him move. Xiumin groaned, squishing himself into the right corner of the seat to avoid Chen’s onslaught. 

“He’s usually the former,” Xiumin managed to get in before Chen’s feet kicked up against him for the second time. This time, he reached out and laid a firm hand on Chen’s exposed ankle. Chen, feeling as though his foot was dunked into a bucket of cold water, quickly retracted both of his legs up to his chest as he let out a high-pitched yelp. Xiumin swung his legs up now, taking over the space Chen had retreated from. 

And, this time, Chen didn’t move a single muscle. 

“Still,” Chen cleared his throat, making sure to keep out of Xiumin’s way, “Luhan really thinks her highness is in love with him?”

“He really does.” Kris responded, staring emptily at the muted holovision that displayed itself in front of the five of them — Chen, Xiumin, Lay, Tao, and Kris himself — from his seated position on the floor.

After muling over whether to tell them what Luhan had told him just this morning, he decided he would. He decided there was anything but harm in doing so. Plus, this way he would have the knowledge that he wasn’t the only one who thought the entire idea was ridiculous. 

Borderline crazy, in fact.

“I believe it,” Tao spoke up, denying Kris what he desired. 

Chen gazed on at him incredulously, not believing the belief Tao had claimed. Before he could wittily retort, Lay beat him to the punch. And the Guardian whose power resided over the ability to give life, to restore that which has wilted to its former glory, did anything but disagree with Tao, “I can see where he’s coming from.”

“They’ve never even talked to each other face-to-face before!” Chen argued.

“Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” Lay reasoned right back.

“Jumping onto the bandwagon that is Her Highness and Luhan’s scandalous love affair at the slightest notion of it, especially when not a single one of us has even entertained the idea before now, is not something you should so easily do.”

“Sometimes the heart sees what’s invisible to the eye,” Lay shrugged his shoulders, not understanding Chen’s sudden change into quite the touchy temperament. 

“Throwing out quotes doesn’t prove anything!” Chen spoke so quickly, his words flowing from his lips so fiercely, he almost choked on his own spit.

“I think he has a point though, Chen.” Xiumin nodded his head, processing everyone’s words of both the present and the past, thinking over all of it by himself while Chen had his little yelling fit, and came to the deduction of, “What Luhan sees with his heart cannot be so easily understood by us. But, it also cannot be so easily dismissed either.”

Chen opened his mouth to say something, to spout more words against the contrary that he couldn’t even remember anymore, when he was interrupted for the second time. 

“If Luhan’s seeing with his heart,” Tao chimed in, a smile on his face that the others could not so easily replicate in response, “then that means he’s already come to terms with his own feelings, right?”

Chen went quiet at that. He recognized his own feelings at that. He realized he was getting mad at something he should have been rejoicing over at that.

Because Luhan must have been as tired as Chen imagined him to be. Because Luhan deserved what he claimed to be true. Because it was about time for Luhan to finally walk, talk, laugh, smile, and live like the rest of them. 

If Luhan was seeing with his heart and not his head, then that time was growing every nearer with each passing second he spent with her highness.

And Chen couldn’t argue that that made him anything but happy.

Kris, on the other hand, had no words. So he went to her highness that same day and attempted to see with his own heart. And when he couldn’t, when Luhan showed him the proof that would set him free, Kris still had no words.

“Pawn to F4.” 

Were the familiar words Kris found himself waking up to — his half-conscious, reoccurring nightmare of playing a never-ending game of chess with Xiumin startling him from his slumber. 

“ your pawn wall.” Chen cursed, his eyes scanning the holographic image displayed in front of them, projecting outwards from a small cube labeled, “Xtreme Chess” — though Kris would argue the only thing “xtreme” about it was how extremely bad he was at it. As the three-dimensional representation of Xiumin’s pawn moved into place, Chen swiped his hand through the image, distorting it only momentarily before he was faced once more with his impending doom. 

“Let’s see if you can.” Xiumin challenged back, holding a staring contest with the one piece of Chen’s side of the board that could potentially put him into a tough spot: his bishop. 

“Good morning, Kris.” Lay greeted Kris first, laying a hand on his shoulder to steady his shaky frame, “Or rather, good evening.”

“He’s awake?” Tao questioned, turning away from the riveting game of life-and-death occurring in front of him; seemingly played between a rook and a knight. Xiumin and Chen followed his gaze, all eyes in the room on Kris and Kris alone. 

“I’m fine,” Kris groaned. When he attempted to swing his legs off the creaky, and noticeably uncomfortable, bed underneath him, both Lay and Tao reached out to help him. “I’m fine,”  he reasserted, only one thought coming to mind upon realizing who’s voice he hadn’t heard yet after his long, yet anything-but-peaceful nap, “But, where is her highness?” 

No one answered him. 

No one even tried to.

“What happened?” Was the first question he asked on instinct. “What’s going on?” Was the second, a rephrased, panic-driven version of the first. He rushed to stand now, fearing the worst. Blinded by his dream of a night that occurred not long ago, he couldn’t see his fellow Guardians. With his vision limited to that of a peephole lens, Tao’s next words only provoked him further.

“She left awhile ago.”

“She left?” He struggled in the grip both Lay and Tao held him in, keeping him seated on the creaking bed, “Where? Where did she go?”

“She went to meet with the leaders of the Board.” Tao answered again. 

He looked around frantically, counting bodies. Recounting bodies. The third time was certainly not the charm as he came up with the same, unwanted number of four. Four Guardians in the room with him. Which meant, as he stated then rhetorically, “By herself?”

No one spoke. 

Silence never felt so loud. 

“You’re kidding, right?” Kris shouted above the noise. 

Tao shook his head, starting with, “She insisted—”

Kris mimicked his action, interrupting with, “Tell me you’re joking.”

And then, he did something. He did something he’s only ever done to Chen’s or Xiumin’s mentor or the Council. He gave them all a one-over, a glance from one face to the next, brows twitching as they creased downwards, eyes narrowed harshly, a frown marked upon his face. He was judging them for a decision that was, quite honestly, out of their hands. He was convicting them for the crime of letting their Seeress out of their sight for even a moment when they could have done something about it.

And Xiumin didn’t think they deserved any of it, “No matter how many times we say it, it won’t change a single thing.”

“No matter how many times you say it, I won’t understand any of it!” Kris shot back, his deep voice booming from one wall of the small room to the next. He was not taking all too kindly to the nonchalance the other Guardians had when it came to allowing their Seeress to be whisked away to who knows where. After all, they were just playing chess as though they were right at home mere moments ago. And they weren’t. This place was the farthest thing from the security of the Hall — they’d discover this to be an understatement in the future. 

“I get it, Kris.” Xiumin ran his hand over the game board, shutting it down. 

The blue light it casted across the room disappeared. The lamp above them, forever conducting a dance back and forth and back and forth, caused shadows to cast down across his face. Tracing creases between his brows. Drawing a frown on his lips.  

To Xiumin, the last thing they needed right now was to see Kris’s expression for what it really was: disappointment. 

Thus, Xiumin proceeded to lecture Kris, even though he was never fond of such things. 

“You’ve just had a near death experience that made you question the meaning of your entire existence and the one thing that can possibly help you discern this meaning, the one person who can make your life make sense, isn’t here when you wake up. I get it, okay? I get that you’re scared. Scared of losing your purpose and her along with it. We all are. But the last thing you get to do is gallivant about on your high horse like you’re better than us. Like the fear we feel is any less than yours. Like we can easily let our Seeress walk off into the unknown by herself. You have no idea how lucky you were that you were out of it when she decided to go alone.” Xiumin turned his gaze to the ground, mumbling out his last phrase of, “At the very least, you didn’t have to stare down the tunnel of her decision knowing there was nothing you could do to help her get out of it.” 

And Kris saw the error of his ways quickly, as per usual. 

“Sorry,” he croaked out, rubbing his hand across his face, wiping away the sweat that had accumulated over the past three days — a time period that had felt like an eternity. “I don’t give myself time to think properly sometimes.”

“Yeah,” Chen spoke up, turning on the game of Xtreme chess once more with a single wave of his hand, “we know.”

When you grow up with a person over the span of more than twenty years, when you watch them grow and mature, you naturally learn how to deal with them. How they think. How they feel. How they are. However, that doesn’t help all too much when it comes to figuring out what to say next. In their particular situation, they couldn't have been more wordless. 

So, Lay saw fit to change the topic of conversation. 

“Until her highness returns, I think it best to reevaluate the limits of Tao’s abilities.”

Kris didn’t understand, his mind still reeling from exerting himself so meaninglessly only seconds before, “What do you mean?”

Tao sat down next to him, the bed creaking underneath his weight, a smile on his face so large Kris thought it boundless, “Not only can I slow time down now, I can stop it completely.”

Twenty years had not come to pass for Tao quite yet. 

He was in no way done growing.

I waited with bated breath. And then I waited a bit more. Only after the door closed behind the woman whose face was framed by long black hair and thick bangs cut straight across her forehead, who appeared anything but welcoming, did I clear my throat. The composed and ever manner-full man in red stood by my side as they congregated round the round table in the room, a single florescent bulb hanging above us. With an open palm, he gestured outwards towards the woman and the man who had just entered, giving me an opportunity to speak — as he had promised he would on the way here, to this unkempt room.

Only then did I realize he really had given us the best Sector E had to offer guest-room wise. 

I cleared my throat for the second time, more nervous than I wished I could be, “I’m sure all of you already know both my name and my title, so I won’t waste time with formalities. I’m here to learn more about the Boards and their goals for the future. My Guardians and I don’t mean any harm to come from my selfish desire to do so. I apologize ahead of time for the inconvenience it must have been to meet with me here like this.”

“As you should,” the woman spoke up in reply, black eyeliner and blacker mascara staining her eyes a darker shade of brown as they narrowed right after. 

The man in red laughed, thoroughly amused by her unwelcoming tone of voice, “This is Victoria Song. She makes people disappear for a living. The Council’s ever-watchful eyes are not always watching, as I’m sure you know. Those who want to leave the Capital, or any city, under the radar are able to do so with the help of her gracious soul.” 

She snorted at his words, turning her head away, towards the silent man at her side. Dressed in thin beige linen, golden-colored bangles and necklaces adorned his tanned body. What really fascinated me wasn’t the series of ten or so shimmering earrings lining either of his ear lobes, nor the toned chest revealed ever-so-slightly beneath his clothing, but rather the color of his eyes. 

A vibrant green that seemed to move spherically on into forever around his pitch black irises. 

“The man beside her is Zhoumi. He’s our Ambassador of Internal Affairs, of sorts. He makes sure our separate factions around the globe are functioning as they should. Maintaing the peace, handling the leeches that are the press, he’s adverse to using his voice if he doesn’t have to. A man of both minimal and concise words, he is. And right about now, I’m sure he’s admonishing me for introducing him in such an extravagant manner, but just look at him!” He shot the tall, green-eyed man a large grin, “Isn’t he a marvel to behold?”

“He is.” I found myself answering despite the obvious rhetorical nature of his question. 

My honesty apparently pleased him, however, as he then proceeded to grant me his own name at long last, “And last, but certainly not least, my name is Henry Lau. I’m the person you’ve wanted to meet since you arrived, your highness. I am the leader of the Board.” He said it so easily, without so much as even an ounce of hesitance, I wasn’t sure what to say in response. As a result, he filled my silence with more words of his own, “Impressed? Awestruck? Shocked beyond words? I must admit, I’m quite adept in making a memorable first impression.”

Despite his arrogant over-confidence, I was — without a doubt — all the adjectives he had mentioned and more. But while I hadn’t expected it, as I looked back on the way the other Boards followed him without question, at the fact that he was the only one besides the girl named Luna who I had heard speak at all, his domineering, charismatic attitude was obvious. So it wasn’t long until I found the voice he thought he’d made me lose forever. 

“It’s nice to meet you. All of you.” I directed outwards with a gaze around the room, having to stop myself from getting lost for a second time in the way the eyes of the tall and tan man named Zhoumi looked at me now — a glazed over, glossy stare that caused my eyes to begin welling up instinctively. 

There was just something about it. About those eyes of his. About that glance of his. 

Just something I couldn’t quite put my finger on yet. 

“I’m a bit let down, quite honestly,” Henry voiced out, though he abandoned his train of thought almost immediately as he continued with, “If I remember correctly, you wanted to know exactly what it was we wanted. Am I right or am I right?”

I nodded, not in the least bit expecting exactly how thorough he’d be.

“Let me then first begin with my everyday duties here. I manage things here in Sector E of the Capital. I make sure they have enough to eat, a place to sleep, and that they don’t fall under the hands of the Council’s unjust execution of their flighty will. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, your highness, but things in Sector E, are not as sunshine and rainbow-filled as things in Sector A are. The same could be said for any city or town under the influence of the government power that is the Council. Rank two and Rank three doesn’t mean a thing down here. 

“The Board are fighting to bring back a new kind of equality to the people. A kind where even if you’re rank three, you can have a feast for supper. The Council places unfair restrictions to our Ranks. We have no problem with them alone. Rank one, two, or three, it denotes the degree of your life — the status you hold on EXO planet. And they certainly aren’t divvied up unfairly. 

Rank one has high-ranking jobs. Government. Public and Private Institutions. It’s understandable. No one really wants to be Rank one except those who are born into it. Rank two are married people and Rank three are singles, no matter their jobs. There’s nothing wrong with the Ranks themselves. Being restricted by where we’re allowed to go, to do, and to eat based on upon these Ranks, however, rather than having them simply denote social condition, is—”

Henry paused momentarily. In his fit of passion, he fell victim to repetition and bias. Clearing his throat, in a large breath, he continued, his facial features that had tensed over time now relaxing. I would be lying, however, if I said I didn’t notice the constant state of apprehension he had for the Council in his following argument. 

He was a passionate man to the core. 

“The Council is corrupted. They restrict from us for their own benefit. To the Rank ones who keep them in power, and to their high-flying, seemingly Rank-less selves.

“Did you know that Rank ones are the only ones allowed to eat seafood? Do you know how many fishermen are Rank two and Rank three? Do you know how much fish goes to waste each day just because there are not enough Rank one mouths to eat it? Why can’t Rank two and Rank three eat the food they’re letting spoil away in supply houses because Rank one’s simply don’t need that much? We’re wasting the resources of our planet taking care of a group of people who are small in number. We’re not saying all Rank ones are bad. They are our Doctors and our Teachers. They have merely been subjected to a spoiled system.”

He shook his dead dismally, in an over-exaggerated manner I knew not to take lightly. The rate at which his expression could change was astoundingly quick. I bit my tongue and listened evermore to him, my eyes not leaving his for even a single second. 

“The Board is looking to get rid of these restrictions. To get rid of the Council placating us. To get rid of this fantasy that everything is sunshine and rainbow-filled. It’s not always sunny on EXO planet, your highness. 

“We’re here to tell the people that, no, it’s not okay. They currently live every day of their lives looking around, saying, ‘It’s fine, it’s okay. I’m okay.’ It’s not okay. It’s not fine. For the sake of giving back to the people, to the planet beneath our feet, to the Tree of Life itself, that’s what we’re here for. So, in summary, for the betterment of all Exotian life, the Boards are fighting to change the limits of the current Rank System EXO planet has upheld for centuries now.”

Casting his eyes towards his companions, a single second of compassion flashed across his eyes. The speed in which he spoke was no longer fast and passionate. His tone of voice became calculative and detached. He reminded me of a spinning coin, what face would lay face up when it stopped a mystery until its blurred figure finally began to slow down. 

“With the Council on our backs here in Sector E, we’ve decided to head elsewhere, to gather support we’ve been building up over time and to see the condition of other towns and cities. So I’m afraid our hospitality to you ends here. Though a good number of our people will remain here in the Capital, Victoria, Zhoumi, and I will be leaving for the Borderlands: the far reaches of EXO planet. The kind I’m sure you’ve only ever seen in storybooks. 

“Now that you’ve met us, now that you’ve finally gotten what you wanted, your highness, I kindly ask that you leave. Go back to Sector A, our beautiful, star-given Seeress. Back to the marble floors and the high, bright ceilings. The kind we’ve only ever seen in storybooks,” he gestured to himself, Zhoumi, and Victoria, finished at long last. 

But, I wasn’t finished in the least. 

My next words, that seemed to send Henry’s own first impression of me flying out the window, that didn’t even take me a single second to put together, were, “As much as they would tell me this isn’t a good idea, I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

The sound of metal grinding against metal signaled her return. She stood at the now opened entryway with two guards behind her, not a weapon to be found on their person. She had an almost ignorant kind of bliss about her. When she walked in, she threw a smile here, another there. Up until the point where the door closed behind her, the Guardians thought her to have had a few screws loosened during her meeting with the leaders of the Board. Because what was there to smile about in their current situation?

As soon as the light of the hallway no longer shone into the room, however, her smile quickly faded away. 

She turned to Kris first, “Are you alright? Lay said you’d recover from your wounds just fine, right?” She casted her gaze towards Lay now, “You’re not too tired, are you? The food we saved was enough for all of you, wasn’t it?” Then to Chen and Xiumin, “The Council is getting restless looking for you all out there, aren’t they?” And, lastly, she sat down beside Tao, grasping his hands in hers, “I really am proud of you, of all of you, for accompanying me up until this point.”

“You’re rambling, your highness,” Xiumin noted. Before she could open to say more, he interrupted her, catching onto what her words insinuated faster than the others, “Aside from that, is there any reason we wouldn’t be here?”

While all five Guardians would agree they didn’t like the flawlessly twitching smile she had braved on earlier, they didn’t exactly know if they disliked it as much as they did her current expression. With downcast eyes, she released Tao’s hands from her own, gathered them together in her lap, and said, “There’s something I need to tell all of you.” They waited, the heavy silence telling them she wasn’t done being selfish just yet. But, at the very least, she wanted to give them a choice. She wet her lips, sighed a deep, stomach fluttering sigh, and said, “And then, there’s something I’m going to request from each of you.”

They listened intently to her following words, not a one speaking even after she finished. Not a one refusing her proceeding request of, “Will you all come with me?” And in two weeks time, the six of them set off, seeking out the sights and sounds that lied beyond the walls of the capital of EXO planet. In two weeks time, a series of events it wouldn’t be prudent to gloss over occurred right there, in the heart of Sector E.